© Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2022, Office 415, The Workstation, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield, S1 2BX JIA 8.2 (2021) 259–261 Journal of Islamic Archaeology ISSN (print) 2051-9710 http://www.doi.org/10.1558/jia.22045 Journal of Islamic Archaeology ISSN (print) 2051-9729 Keywords: Arabia, material culture, Orientalism All Things Arabia: Arabian Identity and Material Culture, edited by Ileana Baird and Hülya Yağcıoğlu. Arts and Archaeology of the Islamic World, volume 16. Brill, 2020. xvi, 269 pp., 105 colour illus. €149.00/$179.00. Hb. ISBN-13: 9789004435919. e-book ISBN-13: 9789004435926. Reviewed by Robert Carter, Institute of Archaeology, UCL Qatar, robert.carter@ucl.ac.uk This timely and well-written and book results from a research grant from the Ofce of Research at Zayed University, UAE, and covers Arabian culture in both academic and popular discourse, broadly but not exclusively expressed through iconic Arabian objects. It contains 12 chapters (14 including the extensive Introduction by Ileana Baird and Afterword by Hülya Yağcıoğlu, the editors), and is well illustrated with over 90 colour and black and white images. The research is exhaustively documented, with 27 pages of bibliography and a detailed index of 12 pages that includes objects, substances, places and concepts as well as notable individuals and researchers mentioned in the text. This volume breaks new ground in Arabian studies, though archaeologists and earlier gen- erations of antiquarians and orientalists would question the claim in the Introduction that “the Arabian Peninsula has only recently gained scholarly attention.” One of its chief strengths is that it does not simply take a documentary or antiquarian approach to its subject matter, but expressly sets out to discuss and analyse the meaning and associations of Arabian things, in both foreign (western) and local (Arabian) minds. The exposition of subject matter in each chapter nonetheless provides a sound and well-referenced basis for academic study of the given thing or topic, whether objects, products, flm, or perceptions of Arabian culture through time. Alongside cultural feedback, another major theme and theoretical perspective in the book is “Thing Theory” with various references to work by Bill Brown, Appadurai and Heidegger. It is made explicit that objects are replete with meaning, and that their meanings are changeable, contextual and dependent on interactions with the human subject. Objects and emblems are dealt with chapter by chapter, having been selected for their iconic status, and include frankincense and associated burners (William Zimmerle); pearls (Victo- ria Hightower Penziner); dates (Eran Segal); the falcon (Yannis Hadjinicolaou); sadu weaving (Rana Al-Ogayyel and Ceyda Oskay); head coverings, especially the kefyah or shemagh (Joseph Donica); protective silver medallions (James Redman); and jewellery (Marie-Claire Bakker and Kara McKeown). Other contributions cover flm (Chrysavgi Papagianni), and the reception and elaboration of Arabian material culture in the west (especially Part 2, in chapters by Ileana Baird, Jennie Macdonald and Holly Edwards). Part 1, a section on traded things, begins with Zimmerle’s chapter on frankincense, which gives a scholarly review of the very long history of incense burners and the incense trade, going back to the 3 rd millennium BC, as well as an account of how burners are made and deco- rated today in Dhofar, the main source region for frankincense. Two other products, pearls and dates, are laden with more recent economic signifcance as well as symbolism. Penziner High- tower describes the operation of the pearl fshery in the Lower Gulf, making the point that pearl fshing, rather than pearls themselves, looms large in the collective memory of the Gulf. The